CA Home Sales Continue to Fall

New home sales in the Golden State were anything but golden in November, according to the latest figures released by the California Building Industry Association. Sales for the month were 63% below November 2008, "which was an extremely bad month," says CBIA President Robert Rivinius. "And it's looking like December wasn't any better." A mere 1,336 new homes and condominiums were sold in November in the subdivisions tracked by Costa Mesa-based Hanley Wood Market Intelligence, compared to 3,592 a year earlier. Single-family sales were down by 62%, while townhouse and condo sales were off 71%. The decline is a result of the usual slowdown in sales around the holidays plus the continued difficulty in securing financing. The median base price of homes sold during the 12-month period fell 13.5%. CBIA's Mr. Rivinius continued to hammer on lawmakers in both Sacramento and Washington to deal with the foreclosure situation and enact a stimulus package that has housing at the top of the list.